1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a medical system, and more particularly, to a medical system and method for providing measurement information by using a three-dimensional (3D) caliper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical systems provide images of living bodies, and have been used in a wide range of fields. Examples of the medical systems may include a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, a computed tomography (CT) system, a positron emission tomography (PET)-CT (PET-CT) system, and an ultrasound system. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, an ultrasound system for providing images of living bodies is described as an example of the medical system.
Due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, an ultrasound system has been widely used in the medical field that requires information about the inside of living bodies. The ultrasound system also plays a critical role in the medical profession since it can provide real-time, high-resolution images of tissue of a living body to a doctor without the need for a surgical procedure that directly incises the living body for observation.
The ultrasound system provides a 3D ultrasound image including spatial information and clinical information such as anatomical information, which cannot be provided by a two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound image. In detail, the ultrasound system continuously transmits ultrasound signals to a living body and receives ultrasound echo signals reflected from the living body to produce 3D data (i.e., volume data), and performs volume rendering on the volume data to create the 3D ultrasound image.
To provide measurement information, The ultrasound system also sets a caliper in an ultrasound image and measures a size (distance, perimeter, area, volume, etc.) of an object within a living body by using the set caliper
Conventionally, to measure a size of an object in a 3D ultrasound image, a 2D caliper is set in a cross-sectional image corresponding to the 3D ultrasound image to produce measurement information. Thus, there is a need for a system for providing measurement information by setting a 3D caliper in a 3D ultrasound image.